One of the ways we can look at defensemen year over year is scoring chances, with an asterisk surrounding time with Connor McDavid and another for small sample size 17-18. As an example, let’s run the top seven defenders from last season and SC numbers.

OILERS BLUE, SCORING CHANCES 16-17

This includes all partners and linemates and as you can see Matt Benning was damned good—or lucky—at this discipline a year ago. The next group of four are about equal, Kris Russell—the pure defensive defenseman—lagged behind. He may suffer from Mark Fayne disease (getting to the bench on time, as the puck enters the offensive zone) but I haven’t seen that happen as a consistent event. Last season, using the entire canvass, Benning flourished. Now, let’s filter Connor McDavid out of the equation, to see how much Benning lost.

OILERS BLUE, SC SANS 97, 16-17

In a weird twist, Benning’s SC percentage is slightly better, while the other defenders lost a couple of percentage points without McDavid on their line. It’s an interesting exercise. We also have to acknowledge things like qual comp, partner, et cetera. Still, Benning had a strong season using all kinds of metrics, this is another. Although we have very little information (three games), let’s run the 2017-18 numbers just for fun.

OILERS BLUE. SCORING CHANCES, 17-18

I was surprised by the rankings here (I’m using NST). The top pair is a no-brainer, they’ve been good for sure. The second pair, Russell and Benning, are well over 50 percent in scoring chances. Hadn’t expected it. Nurse & Gryba are the only sub 50 percent duo in the batch. That first game skewed things for sure, and this is a criminally small sample size. That said, I think you can look at these numbers and say Benning has been performing better than they eye suggests, along with playing in some bad luck. Before we move on, let’s look at the group without McDavid.

OILERS BLUE, SC SANS 97, 17-18

Again, not what I expected. A small sample size, and of course the eye test is important, but Matt Benning performs pretty well across all four tables. He was No. 7D yesterday in practice, is that wise? Perhaps we’ll run the high danger chances tomorrow and see what we can find.

OILERS IN OCTOBER’S FIRST THREE GAMES

Oilers in October 2015: 0-3-0, goal differential -6

Oilers in October 2016: 2-1-0, goal differential +1

Oilers in October 2017: 1-2-0, goal differential -1

The Oilers are not far away from last year’s number and it’s so very early. No team is running away with the Pacific (well, Vegas) and there is still time. Todd McLellan was asked the other day about the team’s defensive quality and basically said they have enough, but the players need to play better. I think they’ll see what Auvitu can bring in the Ottawa game and do believe we might see a move.

YESTERDAY’S PAPERS

Patrick Maroon—Connor McDavid—Ryan Strome

Milan Lucic—Ryan Nugent-Hopkins—Kailer Yamamoto

Jussi Jokinen—Mark Letestu—Zack Kassian

Iiro Pakarinen—Jujhar Khaira—Anton Slepyshev

Chris Kelly

No Leon Draisaitl and no Drake Caggiula means very little in the way of clues for Saturday night. Strome isn’t dynamic so keeping him on 97’s line for Saturday night seems a distant bell. Yamamoto could be replaced by Caggiula at practice today. Slepyshev isn’t going to play on the 4line. As much as we’d like to draw information from yesterday’s lines, it does not inform the future.

Oscar Klefbom—Adam Larsson

Darnell Nurse—Kris Russell

Yohann Auvitu—Eric Gryba

Matt Benning

I don’t like this alignment at all, not one bit. I think Nurse—Russell will eventually come to pass (Benning will exceed Russell in the coach’s eyes) but sitting Matt Benning is not the answer. It’s like the Oilers have decided being without Andrej Sekera isn’t dangerous enough, let’s try to win without two of the six best defensemen on the roster. I don’t think this group of pairs will last long, may not see the light of day in an actual game. Benning may benefit from watching from above, however. This is the point in the article where I feel it is appropriate to mention Mark Fayne. And we move on.

AGGRESSIVE

I have something of a reputation (only because you jerks keep repeating it!) for suggesting three-for-one trades at every turn. Although that kind of deal may not come together, suspect Peter Chiarelli won’t leave the defense alone for long. If the team can’t get headed in a good direction with this lot, and Sekera doesn’t appear close to return, we may see an early season trade for a solution. Earliest Bruins trade under Chiarelli? October 20, 2009 for Daniel Paille.

LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE

All the sports means a full boat of guests and barely time to ramble. Probably good for you! It all starts at 10 this morning, TSN1260. Scheduled to appear:

I agree that Benning sitting is the wrong remedy to what ails this team. I fear that Nurse-Russell will be a terrible duo as Russell is all bend-but-don’t-break chaos and Nurse is still just getting his feet under him. That said, Auvitu needs to get into a game and Ottawa is probably good one for him as it may be more of a puck-moving opponent than a crashbang one such as LA or Anaheim,

All in all, though, this team needs a blueline addition at 2nd pairing that can reasonably slide to 3rd and whose acquisition cost is appropriate for that latter role.

Maybe we’re reading this wrong. I predict Benning to only miss one game. I think this is a learning thing. He got walked a few times and it had nothing to do with foot speed, but positioning. TMac doesn’t strike me as that petty that this is for no reason other than spite. He has faith in Benning, and wants him to do well.

Maybe we’re reading this wrong. I predict Benning to only miss one game. I think this is a learning thing. He got walked a few times and it had nothing to do with foot speed, but positioning. TMac doesn’t strike me as that petty that this is for no reason other than spite. He has faith in Benning, and wants him to do well.

No, I agree with your take on this. I think it’s a one-game sit and learn episode. But it does hamper the blueline at a point in the season where there’s a big difference between 2-2 and 1-3.

Due to our constant defensive breakdowns the last two games, a somewhat shaky Talbot in goal and good shot numbers/bad puck luck on offense – we should a lot more concerned about how our defensemen prevent scoring chances against rather than worrying about all offense all the time.

I frequented the Oilers fan boards back around the Reider trade. There was a poster, think he was from Sweden, who relentless praised Reider and was very hard on the Oilers for not giving him a chance. The rest of the posters, myself included, ridiculed the guy for being such a Reider supporter, and were all dreaming of the Stanley Cups that HOPE would bring. The common retort is that there was no room for Reider on the Oilers at the time, and in a way, it was kind of true. He was a smallish, offensive prospect, which the Oilers had lots of, and people definitely did not see the defensive side to his game. Maybe the Oilers management didn’t see it either.

I doubt they just put random lines out there because Drai and Drake were missing. Usually it’s the 5th liners stepping in as place holders so at least a line or three can get reps together.

So where could Drai go?

1RW?- Strome isn’t going to be a healthy scratch so it’s likely that L1 is the actual plan
2C?- definitely not Nuge coming out of the lineup and he won’t be ahead of Drai so I expect these lines aren’t in order
3C?- Letestu doesn’t likely sit so same there
any other RW?- can’t see them using Drai on RW unless it’s with Connor

What else do we know?

We know that Letestu is almost always line 4. They’ve been loathe to elevate him because he plays PP and PK and struggles when he plays 15+. Has he played a single game as 3C since his first (disaster) season?

I think the lines are listed (by the media) in incorrect order. I think it’s likely that he slides into (what you have listed) the 4C slot for Jujhar and that the line is actually Line 2.

OMG. Not Nurse and Russell. Oh THE HORROR, THE HORROR.
Seriously what is the big deal. Oilers are looking for a second pairing dman. Benning wasn’t getting it done, Nurse is next man up. It’s really as simple as that.
Benning may sit for a game, but he’ll be back in the lineup right away, and I’m sure will get another chance at second pairing if his play improves.
And nobody knows if Russell/Nurse works until you try it. I’ve read all the negatives but is it not possible that Nurse adds a physical element that Benning, or Sekera, never could. One of the reasons Sekera / Russell struggled a little last playoffs was because of the size and strength of the San Jose and Anaheim forwards they were facing.
Matt Benning had a good rookie season last year, in large part due to his poise and puck skills. He will have to recover these skills to be a solid NHL dman. He simply does not have the size or skating ability to get by on physical ability alone.

flea:
I frequented the Oilers fan boards back around the Reider trade. There was a poster, think he was from Sweden, who relentless praised Reider and was very hard on the Oilers for not giving him a chance. The rest of the posters, myself included, ridiculed the guy for being such a Reider supporter, and were all dreaming of the Stanley Cups that HOPE would bring. The common retort is that there was no room for Reider on the Oilers at the time, and in a way, it was kind of true. He was a smallish, offensive prospect, which the Oilers had lots of, and people definitely did not see the defensive side to his game. Maybe the Oilers management didn’t see it either.

I’m sure you mean someone else, but I saw Rieder play a couple times in junior a couple times after he was drafted and routinely praised him at the time, mostly on Copper and Blue. There was another poster on these boards upset about the trade from Kitchener I remember (where Rieder’s junior team played).

First time I watched Draisalt play was as Rieder’s centre at the world junior’s. His skill was evident immediately though I’d say Rieder was Germany’s best player at the time (more complete game).

One of the things that struck me about Rieder right away was his penalty killing and ability to score shorthanded goals that showed he wasn’t just an offensive player. He was voted best PKer in the OHL iirc.

I remember saying at the time that it was one of those trades that didn’t look like a big deal but just showed management’s incompetence and was one of those things that could really come back to bite us.

The second full season in a players NHL career in which he regresses in a number of metrics (time on ice, WoodMoneys, Fenwick, PDO) and shows difficulty maintaining the pace and skill needed for the rigors of a full NHL season.

What’s the definition; is there a way to measure this and is Matt Benning in one?

Its a very small sample size of 3 games but we also see that Benning and Russell are 5th and 6th in even strength ice time for our D so thats a tell that the coaching staff is not liking what they see in these two so far.

Just for reference, Russell averaged 17.46mins/60 last year at 5 on 5 while Benning averaged 14.55mins/60. Part of the drop in TOI could be the additional penalties being called which might be disrupting the D deployment some what,( though, Nurse, Gryba, Klefbom and Larsson are in the same range for TOI)but we have seen that “not good things” are happening in the Oilers end with these two on the ice. Willis has a pretty good article up at the Athletic about the problems of our 2nd pair with stats and video.

Hocus pocus, indeed! It must be magic: Yakupov leads the Avs in scoring and was yesterday’s first star!

Yakupov after 4 games: 3-2-5, +6, shooting 27.3%

Krueger must have been a Warlock. We all know it wasn’t the real Yak his rookie season under Krueger, right?

Eakins and the ultimate grinder coach Hitchcock saw through all that Yak hype baloney, cancelled the spell, and knew all along Yak was a slow-minded, defensively challenged hoser meant for the KHL.

If the Yak magic continues and he puts up a 30-30-60 season with a nice +/- and shooting %, it shows that Oiler management and player development rushed players and then hemorrhaged assets pitifully. It’s too bad the linesman crippled Yak when he did because a speedy, talented shooter is exactly what the star of McDavid needs as a RW.

Chiarelli knows the ‘heavy’ game but he consistently misses the boat on high-end talent, having traded it away his whole career, having not realized what he had in Schultz (what we bloody well need right now!) and in Yak if Yak turns into the player all the grading agencies agreed was #1 his draft year.

flea:
I frequented the Oilers fan boards back around the Reider trade. There was a poster, think he was from Sweden, who relentless praised Reider and was very hard on the Oilers for not giving him a chance. The rest of the posters, myself included, ridiculed the guy for being such a Reider supporter, and were all dreaming of the Stanley Cups that HOPE would bring. The common retort is that there was no room for Reider on the Oilers at the time, and in a way, it was kind of true. He was a smallish, offensive prospect, which the Oilers had lots of, and people definitely did not see the defensive side to his game. Maybe the Oilers management didn’t see it either.

I remember him, I think. Though I think he was Russian? Maybe German. Or maybe Reiders brother.

Unfortunately Reider wouldn’t be the last player we traded away for pennies on the dollar because we didn’t have room for him.

dessert1111: I’m sure you mean someone else, but I saw Rieder play a couple times in junior a couple times after he was drafted and routinely praised him at the time, mostly on Copper and Blue. There was another poster on these boards upset about the trade from Kitchener I remember (where Rieder’s junior team played).

First time I watched Draisalt play was as Rieder’s centre at the world junior’s. His skill was evident immediately though I’d say Rieder was Germany’s best player at the time (more complete game).

One of the things that struck me about Rieder right away was his penalty killing and ability to score shorthanded goals that showed he wasn’t just an offensive player. He was voted best PKer in the OHL iirc.

I remember saying at the time that it was one of those trades that didn’t look like a big deal but just showed management’s incompetence and was one of those things that could really come back to bite us.

Yes. I remember those discussions well. The heartbreaking thing about Reider was how, as a prospect, he was surpassing every reasonable expectation time and time again, with only up arrows, only to be traded for stagnant truculence. To be sure, we don’t know with full confidence what kind of assurances his agent was negotiating for in terms of opportunity, but you have to think there was a way it could have worked (as WG suggests, it may have taken very little).

OmJo: The amount of talent the Oilers have given away the last few years is slightly depressing though

Yes, but dont forget some of the talent we bought for pennies on the dollar that has come in and for us as well.
Talbot was brought in and has stablized the goalie situation ( OK, rough start so far this year) We used magic beans to get him.
Kassian and Maroon have turned out to be fantastic acquisitions when looking at what we paid to get them.

Every team has had players who did not work out well with them, only to have them succeed some where else. Oilers have been on both sides of the equation.

EDIT: I think the worst thing to happen to a team would have a guy so terrible that at $2M per year you have retain 25% just to get rid of him and then he lights it up with the new team.

Re Yak: In his first season, he scored more goals than any player on our team (17, Hall 16, Ebs 15, Gagner 14, RNH 4!).

– think about that: as a rookie he out-scored everyone

– Of course he wasn’t a Steve Austin,

– Then the next year, they decide to teach him a lesson on D, while the other Steve Austins continued their general poor 200 foot game

– I’d be so happy for Yak to do well, and if he scores in the range of Hall and Ebs, even more so

This. People talk about how all the scouts wanted Murray instead but aside from that Spector story, the concensus #1 pick in that draft was Nail. There was obvious talent there that the entire hockey world seemed to see and that Dallas Eakins began to ruin in the first week of his NHL coaching career.

frjohnk: Yes, but dont forget some of the talent we bought for pennies on the dollar that has come in and for us as well.
Talbot was brought in and has stablized the goalie situation ( OK, rough start so far) We used magic beans to get him.
Kassian and Maroon have turned out to be fantastic acquisitions when looking at what we paid to get them.

Every team has had players who did not work out well with them, only to have them succeed some where else.Oilers have been on both sides of the equation.

Also, everyone and their dog could have had Yak on their roster. Ditto for Dubnyk. Sometimes these gambles work out but most flame out.

OmJo: Pouzar:
Yak is the new Hall. He’s gone folks.
The mourning period hasn’t been long enough yet tbh.
It’s hard to move on when we would use a Hall and (confident) Yakupov in our top 6 right about now instead of say… Strome and Lucic…

Here’s what Halls current team has to say about him:

The New Jersey Devils are looking for Taylor Hall to step up after his first season with the franchise.
The Devils acquired Hall in the hopes that he could be an offensive leader for them, but he ended up with 20 goals and 53 points in 72 contests. While those aren’t terrible numbers, they’re not in line with the levels of production he saw during his best seasons with Edmonton. “I expect more and he knows that,” Devils GM Ray Shero said. “We met at the end of the year for a long time and wanted him to understand what it is to become the best player he can be. I think he’s been fantastic this summer and he’s capable of more, but it starts with a lot of different things than what’s happening on the ice in terms of training.” Hall is more comfortable as a member of the Devils now and that might give him a boost in 2017-18. Keep in mind though he also has a significant injury history, which gives him an extra element of risk.

frjohnk: Yes, but dont forget some of the talent we bought for pennies on the dollar that has come in and for us as well.
Talbot was brought in and has stablized the goalie situation ( OK, rough start so far this year) We used magic beans to get him.
Kassian and Maroon have turned out to be fantastic acquisitions when looking at what we paid to get them.

Every team has had players who did not work out well with them, only to have them succeed some where else.Oilers have been on both sides of the equation.

Very true. Chiarelli has made some brilliant trades. But he historically seem to leak skill a lot of the time, too. But I can’t take away the Talbot, Kassian and Maroon trades. The Kassian trade was the ultimate gamble, considering what he was and what he is now.

Yaks goal last night was his first against an actual goalie. He has 1 empty net goal and 1 where the puck never actually went in the net (someone pushed the empty net off its moorings, yak was last to touch it and was credited with the goal).

OmJo: This. People talk about how all the scouts wanted Murray instead but aside from that Spector story, the concensus #1 pick in that draft was Nail. There was obvious talent there that the entire hockey world seemed to see and that Dallas Eakins began to ruin in the first week of his NHL coaching career.

However, the consenus #1 pick at the beginning of the year was Galchenyuk as well. Until he got injured and missed the sesson. He went surprisingly high considering.

russ99:
Due to our constant defensive breakdowns the last two games, a somewhat shaky Talbot in goal and good shot numbers/bad puck luck on offense – we should a lot more concerned about how our defensemen prevent scoring chances against rather than worrying about all offense all the time.

Pittsburgh can’t defend. Their defensemen are medicore at best at defending. So they get the puckl out of their own zone as fast as possible, so their defensemen don’t have to defend as much.

No offence. But there’s no way Yak gets 60 pts. Go watch his goals and you’ll see why. Having said that, he’s a much better fit with the Avs than the Blues. Why the Blues picked him up with Hitchcock as coach is mystifying. I can see him possibly getting 20 goals.

The second full season in a players NHL career in which he regresses in a number of metrics (time on ice, WoodMoneys, Fenwick, PDO) and shows difficulty maintaining the pace and skill needed for the rigors of a full NHL season.

What’s the definition; is there a way to measure this and is Matt Benning in one?

Being paired with Kris Russell is a sure way of creating a sophomore slump in a defensemen. You were told this during the summer.

Dee Dee: I place Yak in the pig ass stubborn category that other players like Dubnyk were in.

I’m totally with you on this specific point.

I don’t talk hockey much on this blog, but that was about to change regarding Yak from junior days until the present. I’m still gathering my thoughts on the subject, fwiw, but there are a lot of other things distracting me at the moment. I’ll get to it.

I don’t dislike the dude, but I’m not nearly as enamoured of him as many here seem to be…

The second full season in a players NHL career in which he regresses in a number of metrics (time on ice, WoodMoneys, Fenwick, PDO) and shows difficulty maintaining the pace and skill needed for the rigors of a full NHL season.

What’s the definition; is there a way to measure this and is Matt Benning in one?

Suspect the slump actually started after his concussion last season. By my eye, he was a much more effective player prior to the injury. I believe there was some metrics towards the tail end of last season that supported this.

OmJo: Very true. Chiarelli has made some brilliant trades. But he historically seem to leak skill a lot of the time, too. But I can’t take away the Talbot, Kassian and Maroon trades. The Kassian trade was the ultimate gamble, considering what he was and what he is now.

The Hall trade was a gamble. The Kassian trade was like someone giving you a winning lotto ticket for your birthday.
Kassian cost the oilers nothing.

Melvis: Speaking of which, I think we need a blog tune…and the Oilers need a goal tune, like the Hawks.
I’ll defer to LT and others for suggestions. Turn it into a contest Don’t forget to think about a few bars of something catchy…looped several times.

Shot in the dark here, but how about the chorus of Queen’s, “Hammer to Fall”, Live Aid version?
And somehow loop Freddie Mercury shouting, “Give it to me one more time!”

Disapointing that there is no intel on the D-pairings today at practice.

Given, McLellan’s verbal that Auvitu is going to play, my assumption is they were the same as yesterday.

While I’m fine with Auvitu getting in a game, I am not fine with:

1) Benning being the odd-man out over Gryba; or

2) a 2nd pairing of Nurse/Russel; or

3) a 3rd pairing of Auvitu/Gryba.

Is there a realistic possibility of winning a hockey game with those bottom two pairings without it being absolutely stolen by Talbot?

Klefbom/Benning
Nurse/Larsson
Auvitu/Russell

If we really need Russel up the lineup the, fine, put him with Klef, I guess – not great but at least he has a more experienced and higher end talent who can get the puck out of the zone as his partner.

1. What’s the PDO of the oilers right now? Must be dirt poor and way under 100 I’m assuming. And what is the PDO of Colorado and NJ in comparison?

2. Would Brayden Mcnabb from Vegas be a viable option for a plug on the 2nd pairing until Sekera comes back? I hear he’s pretty underrated but I’m not sure if that’s just at 3rd pairing or if he can do his thing on 2nd pairing duty too?

1. What’s the PDO of the oilers right now? Must be dirt poor and way under 100 I’m assuming. And what is the PDO of Colorado and NJ in comparison?

2. Would Brayden Mcnabb from Vegas be a viable option for a plug on the 2nd pairing until Sekera comes back? I hear he’s pretty underrated but I’m not sure if that’s just at 3rd pairing or if he can do his thing on 2nd pairing duty too?

I am more concerned with how they are going to ruin the guys on the roster now.
******************************************************************************************
Spit out my coffee….well said.

I hope they don’t mind me cutnpasting a bit here that was particularly interesting vis a vis fancystats:

KK: I know general managers don’t like to give away trade secrets, but when it comes to advanced stats becoming more prevalent, do you have people in place for that stuff, and what’s the day-to-day process with going over some stats that don’t show up in the stats pack every morning?

Wilson: We try to make all our decisions with as much information as possible. We’ve used data research for a long time. I find that the teams that really dig deep and use it don’t really talk about it. It’s part of our decision-making process. We have a group of people and some people that we utilize that bring everything to the table that allows us to make decisions with as much or more information than anybody. It’s in its place. When and how we use it is basically intellectual property, and that’s how we’d like to operate.

KK: You have an owner that founded a big-time software company, of course.
Wilson: And we live in a community that that’s based upon.

KK: So does that make it easier to find people that might give you a different point of view on certain things?

Wilson: Yeah, we have a great group of people that we can access and utilize on a day-to-day basis.

It’s interesting that the owner of the Sharks tends to rely on data and that the area the Sharks play in is known for data and the gathering of it, etc.

Perhaps the data is driven largely by the need to stay under the cap, much like Billy Beane having to find pieces of gold on a beach .

I find it interesting that Wilson says they don’t talk about it much, but they do have data people working.

If you have the time in the off season, I suggest reading a book called, “Soccernomics” It gives you a different insight, especially into the world of data and just how valuable it can be. In one chapter, much is made of a company that studies the rituals/ habits/ tendencies of players who take penalty shots. This company has made a living selling this data to international teams looking for an edge, as games are often won and lost on penalty kicks.

It’s interesting that the owner of the Sharks tends to rely on data and that the area the Sharks play in is known for data and the gathering of it, etc.

Perhaps the data is driven largely by the need to stay under the cap, much like Billy Beane having to find pieces of gold on a beach .

I find it interesting that Wilson says they don’t talk about it much, but they do have data people working.

If you have the time in the off season, I suggest reading a book called, “Soccernomics” It gives you a different insight, especially into the world of data and just how valuable it can be.In one chapter, much is made of a company that studies the rituals/ habits/ tendencies of players who take penalty shots.This company has made a living selling this data to international teams looking for an edge, as games are often won and lost on penalty kicks.

Great stuff.

Check it out sometime.

Thanks for the recc; CC, will have a look at it.

There’s sooooo much good stuff at the Athletic that you don’t see anywhere else.

Nice to know that Sekera’s loss was the single factor that lost game vs Anaheim.

We heard Sekera was injured, the Oilers lost the next game and the season ended.

Management sits on it’s freaking hands all summer, hoping it’s players will be able to seamlessly step up which I doubt if 20% of Oiler fans would agree is a good idea given the history of this team over the past 15 years.

It’s interesting that the owner of the Sharks tends to rely on data and that the area the Sharks play in is known for data and the gathering of it, etc.

I find it interesting that Wilson says they don’t talk about it much, but they do have data people working.

In the article with DeBoer, Dellow mentions that, and talks about the same issue at coaching conferences – they have no “badge” system like they do for the Premiership in the UK and DeBoer says “well, I kinda think sharing information makes everybody better”.

How does anyone here know what actions Chiarelli took this summer to try and improve the defence? All anyone here knows is that he didn’t consummate a material transaction and that Chiarelli was not able to negotiate a deal with another manager for a player or players that helps the team either now and/or in the future for a cost that he thinks makes sense for the team either now and/or in the future.

For all we know, Chiarelli tried day in and day out to work out a deal and my guess is he spent material time trying to do so.

Lets not forget, the manager knows very well the cap situation we are in going forward and that it will be key to this organization’s success on the ice to have a stream of prospects at forward that will be able to provide value on their ELC’s and 2nd contracts.

I’m sure he’d be remiss to put the organization in a situation like the flames are in with zero picks in the first 3 rounds.

We don’t know what he tried, but we know what he did and that’s the result here. A weak second pair and a right-wing depth.

I’d rather have Travis Hamonic anchoring a second pairing right now than the mess that is currently out there. Draft picks be damned. Hjalmarsson was traded. Saad/Panarin were traded, albeit for each other.

It seems unlikely that they considered any other options when reputable sources claimed they were going with youth/rookies and signing Kris Russell before the draft.

July 1 will likely be very quiet for the Oilers, barring any major unexpected happenings, don’t think they’ll be doing much.Roster is set”

I also remember reading something where they ( Oilers) were counting more on internal growth than changing out the roster/signings.

Does Rishaug know what Chiarelli is doing during his days in the summer? I was also quite certain the Oilers were going to have a quiet July 1, most knowledgeable OIler fans could have made that tweet.

That doesn’t mean the manager didn’t spend the summer trying to improve the team.

At the end of the playoffs, Chiarelli expressly acknowledged that the deference wasn’t good enough to compete with the likes of the Ducks and Preds and expressed he wanted to upgrade. I’m quite confident he didn’t shut off his phone after he re-signed Russell and called it a summer.

To say Chiarelli sat on his hands all summer is simply a baseless statement.

We don’t know what he tried, but we know what he did and that’s the result here. A weak second pair and a right-wing depth.

I’d rather have Travis Hamonic anchoring a second pairing right now than the mess that is currently out there. Draft picks be damned. Hjalmarsson was traded. Saad/Panarin were traded, albeit for each other.

It seems unlikely that they considered any other options when reputable sources claimed they were going with youth/rookies and signing Kris Russell before the draft.

Yes, all we know is that he didn’t consummate a transaction for a 2nd pairing d-man. We do not know that he “sat on his hands all summer”, although we can reasonably assume that he absolutely did not.

I absolutely wanted him to upgrade the 2nd pairing this summer so I am disappointed with the summer’s work in that regard.

At the same time, I definitely disagree that he likely “sat on his hands all summer” which is the sole point I am making.

The Yamamoto experiment needs to end. He’s not going to be one of the 12 (+PB) forwards on the roster this year, so what’s the point of doing this? To me, having him here knowing that he’ll be gone after a couple of games is more of a distraction than anything. Why waste valuable time in the early going of a season just to reward a guy for having a great camp? It would be different if there was ever any hope of him being a permanent part of the 17/18 team, but there wasn’t. I’m not down on Yamamoto, and his time will come, but it was never going to be this season. Let this year’s team focus on this year and let Kailer focus on his junior season, making the WJC team, and his continued development.

The main reason I don’t want to see Yamamoto on the team right now is because in the first month of the season, results are more important than how you get them IMO. We’ve all seen how this team has responded to poor starts, even when we were playing well. It’s ugly. Last year, we had a tremendous start and it set the stage for a great season and our first playoffs in a decade. It’s a lot easier to work out the kinks in your game (individually and as a team) when you’re sitting on a bunch of Ws. Just look at us now. We’re only 1-2, but you can already see the panic. The coach is running them hard in practice, the predetermined whipping boys are being called out by the fans. Both of our losses could’ve very easily been wins, but because we’ve got a losing record after 3 games, there’s tension and doubt in Oil Country.

OriginalPouzar: Does Rishaug know what Chiarelli is doing during his days in the summer?I was also quite certain the Oilers were going to have a quiet July 1, most knowledgeable OIler fans could have made that tweet.

That doesn’t mean the manager didn’t spend the summer trying to improve the team.

At the end of the playoffs, Chiarelli expressly acknowledged that the deference wasn’t good enough to compete with the likes of the Ducks and Preds and expressed he wanted to upgrade.I’m quite confident he didn’t shut off his phone after he re-signed Russell and called it a summer.

To say Chiarelli sat on his hands all summer is simply a baseless statement.

Rishaug might not be an insider in Chiarelli’s head, but what he said was consistent with what Chiarelli actually did. Seems like most of the summer was spent in negotiations with Draisaitl moreso than trying to improve the team in other ways, ie 2nd pair defence.